Finding My Tribe

by Lisa Peacock

I need to build my own support network.

• The young neighbors who walk our dog Maude
• The NHS volunteer who’s in a rock band drives me to and from the hospital in their van
• The friend who gives me beeswax lip balm with kind messages—”bee happy”
• The friend who secretly cut my hair in her back garden during the pandemic so I could feel some sense of control
• The group of friends who walk with me on the moors where I have a healing encounter with a wild pony

When the treatment is over, I find a new tribe that allows me to realize and express my grief, teaches me to listen and not solve, and to be a part of, not separate from. People experiencing cancer: this is my tribe. These are the people I gather around the fire with—OK, it’s Zoom—and tell stories of life and loss. It’s the place where the ice around my heart—the emotional numbing from the trauma—begins to melt.

 

Header image is part of a collage titled “Exploring the Cancer Journey” by Lisa Peacock